RS

FRONT PAGE CONTRIBUTOR

John Holdren. Science Czar. Exceptionalism Denialist.

You might remember John Holdren from a previous post – one where it was noticed that the man was on the record as considering the government to have the right to force a woman to not have a baby. As I recall, it was loudly and repetitively declared at the time that thirty years was plenty of time for Holdren to modify his extremist, anti-choice views on reproductive rights. Which is an interesting argument, but I’m curious: is two years enough for him to do the same moral development, when it comes to denial of American exceptionalism and rejection of capitalism?

(H/T: AoSHQ) For those without handy video access: Holdren first sneers at the very notion that there’s something special about America in the first place, then blithely informs the virtual crowd – yes, this discussion was made to a digital audience; no, this particular flavor of the Left has always been blind, deaf, and especially dumb to irony – that of course we’re going to have to become poorer so that everybody else can become… less poor. In other words, it’s the usual zero-sum game nonsense that took refuge among our professional academic class, post-Cold War. I don’t know whether it’s mourning for the lost fever dream of Marxism, or pique that we knuckle-dragging, jingoistic class-deniers made killing the monster look easy… but ever since then a certain type has been nursing a real grudge against the American dream, and expressing it in a variety of ways. Apocalyptic environmentalism is merely one form; there are more.

Which is fine – or at least tolerable, or at least endurable – but why are we letting people who shelter these thoughts anywhere near the reins of power? Surely the President could have found somebody for science czar who had not only Holdren’s paper qualifications, but also the belief that there’s something special about this country. He could have found someone who agrees that we have the right to dream heroic dreams. I refuse to believe that we couldn’t do better than John Holdren.